The development and evolution of communications equipment in recent years has altered the manner in which business is conducted. Functions previously performed manually, such as the collection and processing of data, are now performed automatically using computers and sophisticated communications equipment. As the ability to transmit and receive data reliably, efficiently and over long distances has become more and more a part of everyday business, the need for cost efficient communications equipment, and in particular modems, has increased greatly.
For example, such a need is readily apparent in circumstances where data is collected at a number of remote locations and is subsequently transmitted to a central location for processing. In such a situation, it is often necessary to install hundreds or even thousands of modems at the remote locations. Because prior art modems are typically not designed to optimize total system cost savings and, as a result, often incorporate expensive components, the need for such a large number of modems can make the cost of any such system prohibitive. Thus, it has become increasingly important to provide low cost modems that are tailored to a specific task.